Dead Wrong: Diagnosing and Treating Healthcare's Misinformation Illness - Paperback

by Geeta Nayyar (Author), Tom Castles (With), Jack Murtha (With)

Save lives and improve public health by countering misinformation

In Dead Wrong: Diagnosing and Treating Healthcare's Misinformation Illness, a team of health misinformation experts delivers a first-hand account of the dangers posed by false narratives and snake oil in the face of deadly healthcare crises, like the COVID-19 pandemic. In the book, you'll explore the challenges facing those who fight to restore truth to a place of primacy in the United States healthcare system, the strategies they use, and the lessons you can draw from their real-world stories.

In this revised edition you'll learn:

• How misinformation threatens organizational revenues, reputation, and patient health
• How to leverage existing systems to combat misinformation while meeting quality measures and boosting patient acquisition
• How to implement strategies for systemic change through new quality measures, research initiatives, and elevating healthcare professionals as authoritative voices for truth

Based on feedback from leading healthcare executives, the book provides clearer frameworks for connecting anti-misinformation efforts to revenue generation and cost savings, offering practical pathways for healthcare leaders to protect both patient welfare and organizational sustainability in an era where scientific truth and institutional trust face unprecedented challenges.

Perfect for clinicians, public health leaders, health-tech leaders, and health marketers, Dead Wrong will also earn a place in the libraries of media professionals and community leaders with an interest in keeping the American public healthy and vibrant.

Front Jacket

What can healthcare do when patients believe rumors and lies rather than doctors, researchers, and public health officials?

That question is at the heart of Dead Wrong: Diagnosing and Treating Healthcare's Misinformation Illness, a roadmap for healthcare leaders to understand and address the effects of the conspiracy theory and conjecture that have taken the health of the nation hostage, a phenomenon that began long before social media and COVID-19 and is sure to outlast both.

In the book, physician and healthcare-technology expert Geeta Nayyar reveals how misinformation and disinformation are leading Americans down a dangerous path. She shows why healthcare leaders must intervene and what steps they can take to secure the health of their patients and organizations.

As Dr. G reflects on her experiences in the exam room and the boardroom, she teams up with former journalists to gather insights from contemporary academic research and the world's foremost experts on medical misinformation. Through rich storytelling and rigorous reporting, the book exposes misinformation as a growing threat to individual health, organizational imperatives such as clinician recruitment and retention and care quality, and the U.S. healthcare system itself.

But Dead Wrong doesn't merely describe the problem. Its pages offer invaluable glimpses of real-world solutions spanning new clinical approaches, artificial intelligence, digital health, social media, marketing, and public policy.

Together, these bright spots offer everyone--from healthcare administrators and clinicians to technologists and marketers--the opportunity to ensure truth and health define the post-pandemic world.

Back Jacket

"It is increasingly clear that misinformation poses a threat to every pillar of society, but the stakes are especially high in medicine. With refreshing clarity, Dead Wrong spotlights the challenges of separating fact from fiction when it comes to our healthcare. Dr. Geeta Nayyar isn't satisfied with simply defining the problem. She merges her clinical experience and boardroom expertise along with her team's journalistic skills to offer practical solutions and chart a better path forward. Healthcare and policy leaders would be wise to take note."
--DR. SANJAY GUPTA, Chief Medical Correspondent, CNN

"Misinformation, or downright lies, are undermining so many important conversations we need to be having in this country about how to make policy decisions that are critical to our quality of life. Nowhere is there more harmful than in healthcare where lives are quite literally at stake, particularly in our most vulnerable communities. Fight disinformation by being informed--start with this great book that gets inside how myths and lies cause harm and give us the facts we need to fight back."
--SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, Broadcast Journalist and Founder, Soledad O'Brien Productions

"Finally, a no-nonsense wake-up call to combat the epidemic of misinformation in American healthcare. In Dead Wrong, Dr. Geeta Nayyar fearlessly tackles this pervasive problem with unapologetic fervor and characteristic grace, exposing the devastating impact of falsehoods on our well-being. This book is an urgent rallying cry for us all to take control of our health and dismantle the web of deceit that has entangled healthcare for decades. Brace yourself for a heavy dose of truth and an honest look in the mirror."
--ANA NAVARRO, Political Commentator and Strategist

Author Biography

GEETA NAYYAR, MD, MBA, is a nationally recognized healthcare technology leader who has served as chief medical officer for Salesforce and AT&T. She has been featured on CNN, CBS, and ABC.

TOM CASTLES AND JACK MURTHA are the founders of Map Change, a thought leadership agency specializing in healthcare and technology. Their work has advanced the industry's top companies and innovators.